*O-Bon 2011, the Spirit Festival - Portland Japanese Garden-Special Monday (1 day)NEW

O-Bon is an annual mid-August festival for commemorating our ancestors. Following Japan's Buddhist traditions, ancestral spirits are believed to return to the world during this season, and the purpose of the O-Bon festival is to unite the living with these spirits. For three days, the spirits of the ancestors are invited home to spend time with their families. Buddhist priests assist families to pray for deceased relatives, in whose honor special offerings are placed on home altars. At the end of this special time, the spirits of the ancestors are sent back to the afterlife in a lively celebration of music, dance, and chanting. This moving event has become an important part of the annual cycle of life among members of the Japanese Garden family over the years.

Date
Monday, August 15, 2011

Time
8-9:30pm by the Admission Gate and Upper Pond

Costs
Free Members Event

Researvations Start
Reservations Required; Space is limited
Open July 19

O-Bon, the Festival of Lanterns
'O-Bon is a time to reflect on one's own immortality and remind ourselves that we are not alone, but that we are members of a vast and ancient society made up of both our forbearers and of future generations.' - from a Japanese Garden Member

O-Bon is the name of a Buddhist memorial festival that dates back more than 1300 years in Japan. On three days in mid-August, families gather to pray for the spirits of their ancestors, a reminder of the importance of family ties, of respect for those who have gone before us, and of the brevity and preciousness of our lives together.

From August 13 – 15, Buddhist services are held at temples and homes throughout Japan to pray for one's ancestors and particularly for those who have died within the past year.

During O-Bon, people invite the spirits of the deceased to rejoin them for a few days on earth. Their presence is deeply felt-some even make this is a time to commune with the spirits, asking advice and communicating with them as they might have when they were still among the living.

Sometimes referred to as the 'Festival of Lanterns,' it is customary during O-Bon to light lanterns at night before the home altar in the zashiki, the main room of the house, to guide the spirits home. Though customs vary from place to place in Japan, rice dumplings and other favorite foods of the departed are also prepared and offered to the spirits for their journey back to the Meido, the Celestial World of Darkness. A few days before August 13th, people visit the cemetery to clean the family graves and pay their respects.

Traditionally in parts of Tokyo, the head of the family would burn broken pieces of dried hemp reeds in a clay basin in front of the house on the evening of August 13, as a symbol of lighting the passage of spirits to the family reunion. Prayers are recited and the ritual is repeated on August 15 when the spirits are departing. Buddhist priests visit the homes of their parishioners to offer prayers to console the spirits. Rice dumplings and other favorite foods of the departed are also offered.

T�r� nagashi, or lantern floating, is celebrated in many regions on the last night of the festival. Lanterns are lit and floated down the river or into the sea to guide the spirits of the ancestors home. Other regions of Japan people observe an older custom of celebrating O-Bon by lighting lanterns at the graves of their ancestors and then walking home from the cemetery with the lantern lighting the way for the spirits to come home. In Kyoto, bonfires are lit in the shape of Chinese characters on the hillsides around the city in a dramatic gesture to guide the spirits home.

Bon odori is a traditional, religious folk dance performed in prefectures all around Japan on August 15, the last day of O-Bon. Participants gather around a central stage to dance to the rhythm of taiko drums, cymbals, and flutes. In rural districts, children practice hard in advance all year and look forward to what is, for many, the most delightful festival event of the year. Bon odori is a rhythmic dance done to the beat of taiko drums. Dancers sway and swirl and sing and pose to the beat of the drums often far into the night on this occasion.

O-Bon at the Portland Japanese Garden has always been a special time for us-a time when Garden members gather to honor their own families with a Bon odori dance. At the Garden we join together to remember those who are no longer with us. As Reverend Zuigaku Kodachi chants prayers on the Moon Bridge, we light the t�r� nagashi lanterns and think of our loved ones as we watch the lanterns as they drift across the Upper Pond.

Event Title
O-Bon 2011 - Portland Japanese Garden

Reservations
Open July 19th

Event Location
Portland Japanese Garden, 611 S.W. Kingston Ave., Portland, OR 97205

2011 Japanese Obon Festival & Bon Odori Schedule
http://www.japanese-city.com/obon